Bulletin

Study urges review of Navy plans for cruiser, destroyer

RebeccaChristie

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Congress should review the U.S. Navy's plans for its next-generation destroyers and missile-defense cruisers, a new Congressional Research Service report said.

The Navy has said its next cruiser, known as CG(X), will probably be based on the design for the new Zumwalt class destroyer. That ship, now called DDG-1000 but formerly called DD(X), is still in the early stages of construction. But high costs have caused the Navy to cut its expected number of ship purchases, amid heavy scrutiny from Capitol Hill.

The Dec. 20 report says Congress may want to rethink plans for missile-defense cruiser development. It says the Navy's analysis of alternatives, due next year, may not be considering other options fully.

"Are other basic options being treated in the AOA simply as straw men?" said the report, obtained by Dow Jones Newswires.

The report does not make recommendations, but it does lay out a wide range of possible design scenarios. The Congressional Research Service is part of the Library of Congress and prepares reports for members of Congress and their staffs.

The study suggests lawmakers also should consider the number of planned ships, along with the industrial base implications of buying destroyers and cruisers in small quantities. Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and General Dynamics Corp. (GD), the two main U.S. shipbuilders, already say their costs have soared because they are building few ships, and therefore can't take advantage of economies of scale.

The Navy says it is working hard to address the financial impact of its construction plans. The first two DD(X) destroyers have a cost cap of $3.3 billion each, and the Navy hopes to find further savings through contract negotiations and design adjustments.

"The Navy has been working to reduce the cost of DDG-1000," a Navy spokesman said Friday.

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